The Interior Ministry warned about a two-stage fraud scheme based on social engineering

Fraudsters have become more likely to resort to a two-stage deception scheme developed on the basis of social engineering. This was announced on July 1 in the press service of the Department for the Organization of Combating the Illegal Use of Information and Communication Technologies (UBK) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

"Currently, attackers are increasingly using two-stage telephone deception schemes based on social engineering. The first stage is to create an alarm. <...> The second stage is to confirm the danger," the department's Telegram channel says.

It is noted that initially the victim receives a call, where one of the rather mundane situations is played out, for example, making an appointment with a doctor, replacing intercom keys, delivering letters and checking counters. During the conversation with the future victim, the initiator of the conversation asks him to dictate an SMS code, which may actually prevent intruders from accessing money or services, which will then form an unpleasant memory for the citizen. Subconsciously reproducing this situation will make a person worry about the possible consequences.

Against this background, the second stage of the scheme begins. They call the victim again and, pretending to be law enforcement officers, falsely confirm their previous interaction with fraudsters. As irrefutable proof, callers refer to that SMS code from the first stage. After that, the victim, as a rule, begins to trust the interlocutor very much and agrees to all the actions proposed by him, including financial transactions.

"Practice shows that the power of such schemes is not in technical tricks, but in a precisely constructed emotional trap. Your understandable and legitimate desire to protect yourself can be used against you," the publication concluded.

Total frustration: how scammers use the topic of psychological help

The attackers call under the guise of community centers and offer free consultations.

UBK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs together with the portal "We explain.The Russian Federation" on June 29 named the main mistakes that Russians make when dealing with scammers. So, one of the main wrong steps is to give passwords to intruders and follow the links coming from them. Experts urged Russians to download future applications only from official stores, after reviewing the reviews.